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P^RARY OF CONGRESS 

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Copyright 1903 
By SARA S. SHARP, Denver, Colo. 



IHE WILLIAMSON-HAFFNER ENGRAVING CO. 
DENVER, COLO. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 18 1904 

Mf^ioytight Entry 
■ x^'/tpi 
»■ XXc, No, 
h, 1 I P -) 

COPY s ; 






Co tf)e iflinD frictiDs 

who have so abh' assisted me in this work, which 
I believe to be unique in its treatment of these 
interesting subjects, and to all others who through 
m\' long sickness have shown me man\' kindnesses, 
this book is gratefullv dedicated. 

•• ■•' : S. S. S. 



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tn 'Ancient Ctme0 




PYRAMIDS AND SPHYNX, EGYPT 



Charles Sanford Olmsted, 
bishop of colorado. 

SONNETS. 



Ye relics of a dim and awful past 

Rising in silence out of dreary sand, 

Touching with m3'stery that ancient land. 

And guarded by the sphynx so wierd and vast? 

What dreadful secret do ye hold so fast 

That never any sage with learning's wand 

Can make you speak, nor at the deep command 

Of centuries can you utterance cast? 

I marvel at the wonder in you shrined — 

Tomb, temple, treasury ! I cannot know 

The purpose nor the meaning they designed 

Who slowly reared your walls in lines that flow 

Together to an apex, skyward put. 

As if to enthronize Ra's clouded foot. 

II. 

Great gloomy towers ! These forty centuries 
Have stopped to gaze upon your regal front 
That of the desert storms have borne the brunt 
And wait until the wasting of the seas : 
The stars have peered tipon your mysteries 
When white and shaven hierarchs were wont 
To solemnize strange rites, and dimly hunt 
For wisdom midst those crystal heavenlies. 
I fain would lift the curtain of the years 
And look on Cheep's face as when he saw 
Completed all that sum of hopes and fear-;. 
And felt of death with heart of shrinking awe. 
His greatness measured is by what he wrought. 
His monument the mirror of hi^ thought. 



III. 

An altar in the central midst of earth, 
Cube-Canopied, and measured with the art 
Of sages greater than we know, whose heart 
Saw further than life's dim horizon's girth. 
And felt in man a greatness and a worth 
Which parentage divine could e'en impart ; 
(Here was the granary and sacred mart 
Whence came refreshment in consuming dearth). 
I see arising on Thy vanished stair 
A long procession of high priestly Sons 
Bearing the symbols of the worship there 
While through the mighty multitude there runs 
A shout of joy, that ripples o'er the Nile, 
Which, sliding to the sea. doth sleep awhile. 

IV. 

Into the distant future do I peer. 

And lo! within the Sphinx's opened breast 

They find the long-lost mystic palimpsest 

Of what Egyptian kings and priesthoods fear 

To write in golden letters where the clear 

Strong light of day might surely show them best — 

The history and teaching of the West, 

The East, the South, the North, the myriad year. 

There is a tablet wonderful to trace 

Filled with a lore forgotten among men. 

Which shows authentic Wisdom's open face 

As once he looked and smiled and worshipped when 

Primeval Embers glowed in granite fanes. 

And gods found thrones and gold on simple wains. 



€f}c l^anging aBnrdnis 

«$» 

^^'hen Babylon the great, was in the zenith of her glory, adjoining the grand 
palace and within the general enclosure, the Hanging Gardens were constructed 
by Nebuchadnezzar the king. Seeing his wife Amytis pining for the beautiful scenery 
of her native Media, a broken country abounding in grand and picturesque views, 
he determined to remedy the defect which could only be done by building a mountain 
in such a level country as Babylon. It was not long before this uxorious monarcl 
upreared a mighty mountain, with the aid of two hundred thousand slaves. We 
learn from ancient history this stupendous pile contained a square of about four 
hundred feet, and was carried up in the form of several large terraces as high as 
the walls of the city. The whole structure was sustained by vast arches rising one- 
above another, and was defended by a wall surrounding it on all sides, twenty- 
two feet in thickness. On the top of these arches were first laid large fiat stones sixteen 
feet long, and four broad reeds were placed over these, and quantities of bitumen on 
which rented two rows of brick closely cemented together, and the whole covered 
with sheets of lead on which was placed the mould. It was so constructed that the 
moisture could not penetrate or pass through the arches. Sufficient earth was laid on 
it to grow the largest trees. Nature's vast storehouse of every clime was called 
upon to lend a helping hand to beautify these grounds. Rich fruits overhung the 
sloping vale, and odorous shrubs entwined their branches. Here grew the larch, and 
by its side the aspen with its gray livery ; the stately grandeur of the cedar, the 
mournful solemnity of the cypress, and the rich foliage of the mimosa. The willow 
waved its graceful boughs witii every passing breeze. Rare flowers of every kind grew 
to perfection in this garden. These varied delights of nature were arranged on the 
sides as well as on the top. This extraordinary effort of human skill aided by 
wealth, was supplied by water from the Euphrates, it is supposed by hydraulic engines 
or pumps, thus cooling the air \vith fountains and reservoirs. In the spaces between 
these arches on which the whole structure rested, were large and magnificent apartments 
commanding the most perfect prospect an Eastern imagination could dream of. 
But alas I all is now but a mournful monument of human ambition. What a different 
scene was viewed by Nebuchadnezzar, when he walked the terraces of his grand 
palace and spake thus to himself: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built 
for the house of the Kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my 
majesty ?'" 

Nettik J.\meson'. 

Brenham. Texas. 



When to the games the tribes of Hellas came 
■ To fair Olympia, the suppliants thronged 
The temple, where, by Phidias' art portrayed 
In ivory and gold, sat Father Zeus. 
In height full forty feet, grand, imposing. 
As if presiding o'er the gods on high. 
The carved figure did the mind impress. 
A lion head, but yet a gentle face. 
Whose royal mien by kindness was enhanced. 
Displaying well those attributes which made 
Him king of gods and ruler of the earth. 
An olive crown his flowing locks adorned. 
All golden were his royal robes of state. 
The right hand held the sceptre, to whose sway 
The immortals bowed and men did yield ; 
And in the left a figure he displayed. 
The goddess Victory, the winged one. 
Thus sat the god upon his ivory throne 
In regal splendor, wrought by human hands. 
And great the awe which he in men inspired. ~ 

Wide as the bounds of Greece, wide as the earth, 
The golden god, Olympian Jove, was famed. 

Rev. Frederick F. Kramer, Ph. D. 



Denver. Colo. 



€i)c Cemjjie of SDiana at (JE^Jljcsfus 



This celebrated edifice, built in the reign of Alexander the Great on the site of 
earlier structures, was regarded by antiquity as one of the Seven Wonders of the 
World. Professor W. M. Ramsay says : "Its site was disco\'ered by Mr. J. T. Wood 
in 1870. after many years of patient and laborious search; but. unfortunately, he has 
given no sufficient indications as to what remains of the building he found actually 
in situ, and has left no plan of the >ite a^ it was when he uncovered it. He merely 
gives his own restorations, and his own theories as to what the temple must have 
been when it was perfect : but his knowledge of Greek architecture was not so thorough 
as to make his views trustworthy, and it is hardly possible now to acquire sufficient 
knowledge of the facts to form a clear conception of the building." The illustration 
here given can therefore only be regarded as gi\ing an approximate idea of how 
the temple really looked. According to Mr. Wood's measurements, the temple proper 
was ;i42 feet in length by 164 feet in breadth ; while its stylobate or basement meas- 
ured 418 feet by 239 feet. 

This famous shrine was filled with the treasures of Greek sculpture and paint- 
ing. While the celebrated Diopetes, or image of the goddess which was said to have 
fallen down from Jupiter, Acts 19-35, and which was possibly originally a meteoric 
stone, was not in any sense a thing of beauty. The teniple could boast of figures 
carved by Phidias and other celebrated masters, and of paintings by Apelles. 

. A certain space about the temple was reserved as an asylum for fugitives from 
justice. Moreover, besides being a place of worship and a museum of art, this cel- 
ebrated fane filled the place of a bank : for. as Mr. Gardner says : "Nowhere in 
Asia could money be more safely bestowed than here; therefore l:>oth kings and pri- 
vate persons placed their treasures under the guardianship of the goddess." The proud- 
est title which the city of Ephesus claimed for itself was that of being "temple — 
guardian of Diana." 

The temple organization, it has been remarked, reminds us in some respects of 
a great cathedral or abbey in mediaeval Europe. But its glory has long since departed ; 
its very site was for long centuries forgotten, and we can only imagine what its splendor 
must have been when St. Paul sojourned at Ephesus. and proclaimed there the 
Gospel which was to overlhrow paganism, and bring in ;i pure worship and a spir- 
itual faith. 

Re\'. Wm. S. Bishop, 

Sewanee. Tenn. 



In the sunny south-land of beautiful Asia, as antiquity knew Asia, there was in 
the fourth century preceding our era, the little principality of Caria, dominant as a 
sea-power. The chief city was Halicarnassus, on a crescent shaped bay overlooking 
which rose a sumptuous Palace of Death, to be regarded as one of the Seven Wonders 
of the World. Here reposed for many centuries King Mausolus and his wife, Artemi- 
sia, both of the blood of Persia and of Caria. Mausolus, with name of the Persian 
satrap whom the "Great King" in his precipitate retreat from Hellas, a century and a 
half before, had left as satrap of the region, and Artemisia, from the name of an 
ancestral queen who had aided Xerxes at the Battle of Salamis with a fleet of ships. 

Egypt had given to the world the idea which exalted the tomb into the palace 
when the rest of the world was satisfied with the cinerary urn or the rockhewn 
sepulchre. Ancient writers tell the story of the passionate grief of a wife whose only 
consolation was found in the erection of a monument which should perpetuate the 
memory of her love. They describe the Parian and Pentelic marbles, brought from 
Greece and the Greek islands ; the sculpture which adorned it ; they tell of the artists 
who worked upon it. After sixteen centuries it was worthy of its ancient fame and 
was described in quaint terms by a writer of the twelfth century. It was finally de- 
stroyed by the Christian Knights of St. John for the building of a rriassive fortifica- 
tion against the Turks, and most of its marbles are to-day within its walls. Many 
of its fragments are, however, in the Mausoleum Room of the British Museum, and 
here one will, perchance, linger long and lovingly to read the broken lines of that 
dream of love of the ancient Carian queen. 

It was a square structure, more than one hundred feet each way, forming a base 
for thirty-six graceful Ionic columns, enclosing a square chamber which was probably 
the banqueting hall, for friends came together to sup with the dead, as one may see 
in the later tombs in Rome. Above this Ionic structure, built like a temple, with 
architrave, frieze and cornice, arose a pyramid of twenty-four marble steps, on which 
was a chariot with four horses, and a man and woman — probably statues of the king 
and queen — stood in the chariot. This great marble building was erected upon a 
mound, and was approached by steps guarded by lions of the species found in Asia, 
each with his individual characteristics. The sepulchral chamber was below and was 
rich with architectural adornments and treasures of silver and gold. A marble wall 
of considerable height surrounded the enclosure of the tomb, probably with quadrigas 
at the angles. But this which has been described was not all. It was indeed the least 
of that marvelous beauty which made the tomb of Mausolus a Seventh Wonder of 
the World and all similar structures perpetuate his name in the word— Mausoleum. 

The Greek world was then affluent with master-pieces in architecture and 
sculpture. Many artists of the second period in Greek sculpture, which bore the 
same relation to Greek art that Raphael and his school bore to Italian art twenty 
centuries later, were then at the height of their power and influence. Among these 
was the renowned Scopas, the compeer of Praxiteles. 

Queen Artemisia was no frivolous woman with shallow mind and untrained 
judgment. The best was none too good for this royal tomb and the best artists were 



summoned from different parts of the Greek world, and there on the slope overlook- 
ing the sapphire sea the sound of the sculptor's chisel was heard with the harsher 
sounds of the workman's hammer. Groups of statues were carved from the marble — 
horses with their riders; the divinities of Olympus as in the Parthenon marbles, seated; 
forms of men and women who may have been of the royal family ; of various ani- 
mals, not only lions and horses, but also boars, sheep and dogs. Reliefs with beau- 
tiful symbolic significance made bands of pictures encircling the walls. The British 
Museum contains many of these which are full of movement and expression and 
carved with the wonderful delicacy for which Scopas and his school are distin- 
guished. They live in their marble casing and seem ready to leap forth upon the 
spectator even now. The most interesting fragment of all is the statue of Mausolus 
himself, of heroic size, with a broad, massive face, deep-set eyes, full beard and 
hair hanging low upon the shoulders in thick masses. One feels that he stands 
before the portrait of that ancient Carian king, rather than the generalized type of the 
Carian rulers. It justifies his own description of himself in Lr.cian's dialogue where 
he says: "I was a tall, handsome man and formidable in war." This. then, is he 
whom a woman so loved that two years after his death she died of grief for him and to 
whose memory she reared this Seventh of the Wonders of Antiquity. Is there nothing 
here of Artemisia? There is the grand female figure which stood in the chariot with 
Mausolus. The drapery is carved with great delicacy and refinement, the form is 
not unlike those stately figures of the Niobe group, also the work of Scopas, but the 
face has been utterly destroyed. She has entirely passed away. 

Here, then, against a background of hills, green, golden or purple with the 
changes of the seasons, framed in with its marble wall which was like a broad 
pedestal, looking down upon the white sands of the curved shore, before which 
extended the broad path of the waters, over which came the ships of all nations in 
admiration and enthusiasm, rose this stately structure, like which there has been one 
other and only one, the Taj Mahal of India, also the memory of a dream of love. 

The death of Artemisia did not make an end of the work. Though bereft 
of their patroness, the sculptors labored on "for the sake of their own fame," and so 
in the glory of its perfected beauty, it became the delight of mankind and worthy to 
rank in the mystic number of the wonderful things of antiquity, and to be known 
as the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. 

Sarah Dix Hamlin, 

San Francisco, Calif. 




€tj«^ Colo^j^u^ of 3^t)otic^ 

The most celebrated of the statues of Greece, erected B. C. 300 years, by Chares, 
pupil of Lysippns. The work occupied tweh'e years. Its height was 105 Grecian feet. 
Few who could encompass the thumb with their arms. It was hollow, and large 
stones put into, its cavities to counterbalance its weight. A winding staircase to its 
top, from whence could be seen Syria, and ships that went to Egypt. Its cost, $317,000, 
money secured from sale of spoils after the raising of the siege of Rhodes. Fifty 
years after its erection it was thrown down by an earthquake. After lying nearly 
one thousand years, the pieces were sold by the Arabs to a merchant Jew, whom it 
is said loaded nine hundred camels with the brass. yr i\/r„T 

Denver, Colo. 



€f)c ^l)aros of ^lexantiria 

Egi'pt was the cornfield of the ancient world. It is the creation of the Nile : 
wherever the waters of the great river touch, that is Egypt. The Nile at once fer- 
tilized and produced the bread of life, and enabled the corn merchants to carry it 
to the centers of population which thrived on the shores of "The Great Sea." Alex- 
ander the Great, with that acumen which distinguishes great conquerors for seizing 
upon positions of command, built Alexandria, the port of Egypt. Here the farmers 
of Egypt met the corn merchants of the world, and hence sailed the fleets which bore 
the food of the great cities. To facilitate and command this vital trade. Alexander 
joined the island of Pharos with a mole seven stadia in length, to the main land, 
thus forming two commodious harbors. 

On the eastern promontory of this island was built the first lighthouse. Ptolomy 
Philadelphus employed the famous architect, Sostratus, who erected a tower four 
hundred and fifty feet high; withinjifty feet of the height of the Washington monu- 
ment. He probably took the tower of Babel for his model, for like it, he built it 
in stories. The first was square, the second octagonal ; some of the stories were 
ornamented with pillars and galleries. So wonderful and magnificent was the 
structure, as it stood a mighty pillar of white, a guide by night and day for the stream 
of corn galleys making for the harbor, that common consent numbered it among the 
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. And after this celebrated lighthouse, for 
centuries a lighthouse was called a Pharos. It was erected about 300 B. C, and 

was still standing in 1300 A. D. 

The Very Rev. Deax Hart. 

Denver, Colo. 



of tl)e ^orlb 



tn ttjr JfitUtlc SlffCEi 




THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA 



€f)c <i5reat ^all of Cljma 

The Great Wall of China, or Wan-li-Chang (Myriad Mile Wall) has been 
described as one of the most wonderful works of man. Certainly it is the most 
wonderful defensive work. Though built about 220 B. C, it is still in a comparatively 
good state of preservation. While the later and more substantial Roman walls of Eu- 
rope have passed away, in many places the Great Wall of China remains, thus it rises in 
antiquity and importance to a place with the ancient monuments of Egypt. It is called the 
Great Wall to distinguish it from lesser ones which have preceeded it, and from 
inner or dividing walls, and from some more modern stockades, for wall building 
seems to have been quite an occupation of the Chinese in the ages past. It begins 
at Shanhai-wei, a place of considerable trade, and ends near Kiayn-Kwan, making 
a distance, estimated at from 1,255 to 1,500 miles. It crosses rivers, ascends moun- 
tains, traverses plains, and was doubtless the result of much patient labor. Its con- 
struction is by no means uniform, nor is its size, varying from fifteen to thirty feet 
in height, twenty-five feet at the base, and fifteen at the top. In some places it is 
constructed of granite foundation, with retaining outer walls of stone, filled in with 
gravel or earth, and roofed with brick ; in other places it is but a mound of earth. 
There are gateways of stone, and watchtowers of brick, at various, but unequal dis- 
tances. These towers are sometimes forty feet in height, sometimes less. The Great 
Wall was built by Tsin-chi-Kwanzti to protect his dominions from the inroads 
of the northern tribes, or Tarters. For a while it seemed to have succeeded, but only 
for a while, for these Tarters eventually became the conquerors and rulers of 
China. Now the wall is of little or no use. Railroads pierce it, floods wash breaches 
in it, and no effort, seemingly, is made to keep it in repair. Its watchtowers are 
used in some cases as garrisons for soldiers, but others are crowded with poor 
families of the peasantry. We are familiar with its form from pictures in our 
geography books, and travelers tell us that on seeing the original they are struck 
with its likeness to the pictures of it. It is described as one of the wonders travelers 
going round the world would stop to see. 

Rev. John Cornell, 

Washington. D. C. 



MonchcMQC 

Stoiiehenge ! thou strange and mystic place, 

What rites were once performed amid those stones. 

Where Druid priests with incantations strange. 

And cruel sacrifice of human blood. 

Made vows to God, the righteous One and Just, 

In darkness not perceiving Love Divine, 

The greatest good vouchsafed to human souls! 

And we, alas ! are guilty, so, dear Lord, 

And need to pray with them "Forgive our sin." 

loNE Theresa Hanna, 

Denver, Colo. 



€l)e Catacomtj^ of ^Icjrantirta 

To the South-West of Alexandria lie the Catacombs or ancient burial-vaults, 
which are formed by excavations in the calcareous rock of which the shore is com- 
posed. The most extensive are those of Egypto-Greek origin, from the largest of 
which, according to Strabo, the district in which it is placed is called the Necropolis. 

These places of sepulture are very regular in their formation, and the visitor 
to one of them finds himself in a long corridor or passage, about four feet wide, off 
which he sees seven shorter passages open, three on either side and one at the end 
which is entered by a narrow opening. 

Standing in one of these he is surrounded by the graves or loculi — as they 
are commonly called — which are excavated from the rock in a direction perpendic- 
ular to the length of the passage, the dead body being introduced endways to its 
last resting place, after which the grave is carefully closed by large slabs or tiles, 
cemented together so as to prevent the escape of the products of decomposition. 

The loculi rise in rows all around the passage like the berths in a ship ; in 
each row there are eight graves on either side and three at the closed end. These 
rows begin a few inches above the floor and rise, at successive intervals, to the 
springing of the arched roof. The slabs and tiles, closing the loculi, are in most 
cases beautifully carved or painted. 

There is also in Alexandria a small Christian catacomb of quite recent dis- 
covery, the walls of which are abundantly adorned with paintings, one being of a 
liturgical character. 

Here the loculi run. as in pagan places of interment, perpendicular to the 
passages, which is contrary to the way they are excavated in the majority of Christian 
burial vaults, where they run parallel to the length of the corridor. 

The word catacomb in its original form — ^"catacumbae" — had nothing whatever 
to do with sepulture. It was derived from the Greek, Rata and Kumbe (a hollow), 
and had reference to the natural aspect of the ground. 

There was a district, close to the Appian Way, in the environs of Rome, which 
bore this appellation, and in it was erected the church of St. Sebastin. Beneath this 
church were extensive burial vaults, in which the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul 
are supposed to have lain for some time e're they were carried to the basilicas which 
bear their names. These vaults were called "coemeterium ad catacmiibas," and, at a 
later period, catacumbas, alone. 

Afterwards they became renowned as a resort of Pilgrims, and hence, in entire 
forgetfulness of the origin of the word, catacumbae came to be the name generally 
applied to all burial places of the same nature. 

George P. Moyles, M. A., 

London, England. 



V 






All who visit Rome wish to see the Colosseum. It is a stone building of 
stupendous size, covering the six acres where once gleamed the crystal waters of 
Nero's lake. The Emperor, Vespasian, employed twelve thousand Jewish captives for 
eight years in its construction ; and when dedicated by Titus A. D. 80, it yet remained 
to be completed. Elliptical in form, its major axis is 584 feet, and its minor 468, 
with an arena 278 feet long by 177 wide. Originally its seating capacity was so enor- 
mous as to hold 87,000 persons, while 22,000 more could find standing room. An awn- 
ing in place of a roof stretched over this vast multitude to protect against rain and 
the burning rays of an Italian sun. 

To-day, two-thirds of the original structure has disappeared, its material being 
used in the construction of the palaces and other principal buildings of Rome. In 
the center of its arena stands a large cross, around which are placed the representations 
of our Lord's passion., At close of day you would notice a procession of monks 
and veiled women coming in beneath its arches with solemn step, and moving to- 
wards this cross, chanting a Christian hymn ; and then kneeling before it, hear them 
cry, "Adoramus te, Christe. et benedicimus te ;" and then rising, reverently listen 
to "the old, old story of Jesus and His love" by a Franciscan friar. 

Such Christian worship contrasts strangely with scenes transacted here in 
other days. Where that cross stands, during long centuries were terrible conflicts 
between man and man, and man and beast. The air upon which words of love and 
songs of praise now fall, was then rent by mad and agonizing cries of dying gladi- 
ators and Christian martyrs ; heavy with the roar of wild beasts awaiting slaughter 
in the caves beneath ; and throbbing with blood-thirsty yells from an one hundred 
thousand human beasts ; tier above tier, delightingly gazing upon the merciless com- 
bats going on below. The blood shed in this arena, if preserved, would float a 
sloop of war ! Join the multitudes which, in January, 404, flocked from every part 
of Rome to witness a gladiatorial contest of more than ordinary interest. What 
a sight ! Beneath us, the arena strewn with yellow sand to absorb blood ; above its 
marble faced walls, a railed balcony on which are seated military and religious dig- 
nitaries. Foreign ambassadors and vestal virgins ; and in a chair slightly elevated, 
and surrounded by lictors and guards, the Emperor, clothed in purple. Back of this 
balcony on richly cushioned seats, are senators of the Equestrain orders; in 
the tier above, inferior nobles and wealthy citizens ; still above them and divided 
by a high wall, the common people ; while in the gallery still higher, women are 
gathered, an one hundred thousand persons, containing the pride, learning and 
power of the greatest city on the globe. The trumpets sound. A long procession 
of gladiators enter the arena. The battle begins. Blow follows blow. Frenzy seizes 
alike combatants and spectators. A gladiator falls! Another, and another, and 



another; and the victors stand over them looking to the people to decide their fate. 
If they press down the thumbs of their extended hands, the vanquished are saved. 
But no ! Amid screams and wild swaying of row above row and tier above tier, 
the cruel hands of this maddened muhitude are outstretched with upturned thumbs 
to seal their fate. Behold ! Into the thick of the fight comes a tall, wild looking 
man — Telemachus, an Eastern monk — who, with earnest prayer, beseeches the com- 
batants to cease. Never was Rome more startled or more angry. A myriad throats 
scream for his death. Brooking no delay, missiles like hail, rain upon him and batter 
out life. The brave monk falls a victim to his heroic determination to save lives 
yearly sacrificed in these inhuman sports. And his attempt was successful. 

Rev. Wilbur F. Paduock. D. D., 

Philadelphia, Pa. 




SC^ofifquc of c^. =f>op^ia 

(ii^olp Wisbam) 

Consecrated December 26, 537: Desecrated May 29, 1453. Messiah supplanted 
l)y Mahomet : Minister by Muezzin : Cross by Crescent : Allehiia by Allah il Allah : 
Faith by Fatalism: The Name only retained. Which shall yet the building reclaim. 
For "Vice shall not pervail against Wisdom." 

Constantine (325) chose name and site. From his Church, rebuilt by his 
son Constantius, S. Chrysostom went into exile. For which cause his friends in frenzy 
burned it (404). Restored by Theodosius II (415), it was destroyed in the furious 
fray of the "Blues" and the "Greens" (532). Within six years it was replaced, and 
when shattered shortly after by an earthquake, was repaired in such wise, as to justify 
Justinian's exclamation : "Solomon, I have built better than thou." The architect's 
name was Anthemius ; the supervising genius the Emperor Justinian : Ten thousand 
men wrought simultaneously : Sixty-five million dollars were spent. The materials 
were marble of ten different kinds of porphyry, granite, brick, bronze, iron, lead, silver, 
gold. The many hues suggested a flowery meadow. The ceiling mosaic of crystal, 
gems, amber and gold rivalled the starry sky. Temple columns from Palmyra, Ephesus, 
Cyzicus, Rome, Athens, Thebes, Thessaly, seemed stalachtes of a fairy grotto. Even 
though Turkish stucco has made the building a sepulchre, its glory so excelleth that 
one can understand how the envoys from heathen Russia, in 987, could report that 
they had been in the presence chamber of God. S. Sophia is built in the form 
of a Greek Cross enclosed in a parallelogram 235x250 feet. At the east is an apse : 
at the west a double porch and bell tower; at the northeast a Sacristy and Baptistery. 
The exterior is massive rather than majestic, and is marred by Turkish minarets. The 
interior is a masterpiece. A dome, 107 feet in diameter, 46 feet high, 180 feet from 
the floor, and lit by 24 windows, rests on four interior mas3i\e piers of free stone, 
braced with iron and soldered with lead. On the outside, north and south, fou" 
immense buttresses rise in three stages to the spring of the Dome. East and west, 
semi-domes, with supporting apses, brace up the central Dome, and provide a clear 
;:pace of 100x200 feet. To lessen the pressure, this huge mass is made of pumice stone, 
which floats on water, and Rhodian bricks, one-sixth of the usual weight. "Aerial" 
is, bv comm.on consent, the word used to describe this graceful cluster of concaves. For 
they seem to hang in mid-heaven, a vault of rainbows beneath the vault of blue. The 
side aisles, from necessity of construction, are a series of open chambers. The Sanctu- 
ary, now bald and bare, was of old, resplendent with gems and gold. The Altar stood 
in the center, beneath a tabernacle and cross of solid gold, ablaze with burning 
candles, and flashing with prismatic hues thrown from bejewelled vessels and cloths 
and icons. Behind ranged the Episcopal thrones of silver and gold. Before stood 
the Ambo and the Stalls, carved and curious. Out in the great nave, pillars by the 
score, and arches and galleries and balustrades and cornices and mosaics and doors 
of bronze, now flashed with colored light, now subdued by the shifting shadows, made 
the senses reel and the soul adore. Even Gibbon concedes that an enthusiast might be 
tempted to suppose S. Sophia to be the residence, or even the workmanship, of Deity. 
Alas! for its present use and estate! How long, O Lord I how long! ere it will be 

again the habitation of "Holv Wisdom." 

Rev. W. p. Ten Broeck, D. D., 

Faribault, Minn. 




THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA, ITALY 



€l)C Eeaning €otDcr 



In 1 174 Bonamas of Pisa and William Insbruck began the great Campanile, 
which is best known as "The Leaning Tower of Pisa." The tower is one of the four 
marvelously beautiful buildings which stand grouped together in Pisa. The others 
of the group are the Cathedral, the Baptistery and the Campo Santo. 

All are built of white marble so disposed by the builders that it has lost all 
chill heaviness and seems the embodiment of some great artist's dreams. Of the four 
beautiful buildings the tower is the most famous, perhaps because of its perilous 
incline of thirteen feet. The fact that leaning to such a degree, the Campanile has 
stood for over seven centuries seems almost incomprehensible. There is, however, 
an explanation. 

The sinking of one side of the foundation began at an early stage of the 
construction. Consequently the architects were forced to take every possible measure 
to maintain the balance. With this end always in view, they proceeded cautiously 
with the work until the tower was one hundred and eighty feet high. For further 
precautions the seven enormous bells of the chimes were so hung as to throw their 
weight to the northward, and the steeple originally planned was never added. To-day 
the tower still leans menacingly to the southward, but as soon as the eye becomes 
accustomed to this peculiarity, all impressions are lost save those of grace and sym- 
metry of the whole structure, and the delicate beauty- of design. An effect of carved 
ivory is produced by the tiers of columned arcades that encircle the galleries, out- 
side each of the eight stages of the tower. Inside a flight of three hundred and thirty 
steps leads to the top, and from this height pealed one of the earliest of Italian chimes. 
It is said that this Campanile served as a model for the others which were erected 
throughout all Italy. None of the copies, however, rivalled the original in beauty. 

E. F. Le Fevre, 

Denver, Colo. 




THE PORCELAIN TOWER, NANKING, CHINA 



€l)c IBorcelain Coiner 

Of the many memorials of loved ones scattered through the world, none, 
perhaps, was ever more beautiful than the one in Nanking, erected by a heathen 
son in loving memory of a heathen mother. 

It is a well-known fact that the love and reverence of the Chinese for their 
parents is unequalled anywhere, even among Christian nations. The Emperor, Yung- 
lo, was no exception to the rule, and somewhere about the year 141 1 he began the 
remarkable building which stood until 1856, when it was destroyed by the Taiping 
rebels. 

The so-called "tower" was in reality a pagoda, octagonal in shape, rising 260 
feet from its foundation, and having nine distinct stories. It was from the casing 
of the outer walls that the building received the name, "The Porcelain Tower," 
as this consisted of the finest white brick that could be made of that material, and 
each of the stories had overhanging eaves of green glazed tile, also of porcelain. On 
the top was a pinnacle shaped like a pineapple, surmounted by a gilded ball, which 
was encircled by nine iron rings ; from this depended five chains to the eaves of 
the roof, on each of which was a pearl, supposed to exert some influence upon the 
safety and welfare of the city : one averted floods ; another fires ; the third, dust 
storms ; the fourth, tempests ; and the fifth "guarded the city against disturbances." 
In addition to these ornaments, there were one hundred and fifty-two bells hung 
from the eaves of the several stories, as well as countless lanterns. 

The building was finished about 1430, long after its designer had died, leaving 
the work for his successor. It was built on the site of an ancient temple of modest 
dimensions, which had been erected by an Indian priest, to be the receptacle for 
a relic of Buddha, but which was destroyed during the disturbances of the Yuen 
dynasty, about 1368. 

It seems possible that owing to the sacred associations connected with the spot, 
Yuen-lo deemed the place a fitting one for his memorial. 

Arranged by Eliz.\ B. Parker, 

Denver, Colo. 



of t\)t 




THE N A T r K A I, II R 1 D G E O I' \' 1 R G 1 N 1 A 



€l)c iDatiiral -3ntjg(: 

This wonderful formation is sitviated in the midst of the grand scenery of 
the Blue Ridge Mountains, near the southeast corner of Rockbridge County, Va. 
From the immediate vicinity may be seen the James River, which, having traversed 
its winding course around the projecting ridges of the great mountain chain of 
the Appalachians, as it penetrates the great divide of the waters of the east and 
the west, in its onward rush to the Atlantic Ocean. The road leading from Buchanon 
to Lexington follows the course of the long ridges and along the valleys of the 
smaller streams, crossing the latter as they digress toward the right in their rapid 
descent of the James River. As one is descending a rather steep incline along the 
road about twelve miles from Buchanon, passing around the foot of a hill, he will 
obserA'e a narrow track like a lane between two high fences. From this point the 
observer may look into open space, but unless aware of its surroundings, would 
not imagine that he is upon the great natural curiosity celebrated among the many 
wonders of our country. Looking down the outside of the bridge into the deep 
gorge below, one gathers a conception of the sublimity of this great natural structure. 
Directly beneath is a narrow chasm less than one hundred feet wide and about two 
hundred feet in depth, whose smooth walls of limestone stand almost vertically, 
inclining but slightly from the perpendicular. The arch which supports and forms 
this natural bridge is about forty feet thick at the crown, from which it regularly 
increases in a graceful curve towards either wall, forming a substantial structure. 
and conveying to one's mind an impression of strength and solidity surpassing that 
derived from the artificial work of mankind. The substantial character of the mate- 
rial of which this peculiar formation consists, which is composed of massive blocks 
of silicious limestone containing no interstratified rock of softer character, makes it 
more apparent that some mightier agency than the small stream which runs through 
the gorge, was responsible for the formation of the wonderful chasm across which 
this bridge is extended. The bridge and its chasm beneath bear evidences which 
testify to the extraordinary convulsions of the surface in this part of the country in 
the ages past, when the lines of stratification were upset and displaced to a depth 
of thousands of feet. Many visitors have carved their names or initials upon the 
walls of this famous natural wonder, which will stand for generations, aye, perhaps 
for ages to come, (unless some catastrophe shall change its form) as an enduring 
monument to the works of the Infinite. 

Ni.ARr Rogers, 

.^sbury Park. N. J. 



€\\t 4E»arDcu of the oBoDs 

It is not a garden at all. in the sense of a place of luxuriant plant-life. Per- 
haps the fabled "gods" had flowers enough on their Olympian heights, and came 
hither only for play, upturning rocks in their rough games, and sportively fashion- 
ing curious shapes of animals, or grotesque caricatures of the race of feeble mortals, 
causing the "inextinguishable laughter" of the deathless gods, whereof Homer sings. 
Only as some such Titanic playground can we call this place a "garden." For water 
comes not but in short-lived freshets after thunder-storms, leaving cliffs and boulders 
clean and dry in the bright Colorado sunshine. 

And how this sunshine brings out the colors ! If this is the scene of desolation 
rather than growth — the monument of some ancient war of elemental forces — yet 
beauty reigns here now, though of the grand rather than of the soothing type. Stim- 
ulating is the view of these painted rocks — the brilliant red sandstone of the sheer 
cliffs at the "Gateway," the white of the gypsum hills just outside, the venerable 
grays and greens of the imposing "Cathedral Spires" — while in the back-ground the 
eye may catch sight of snow on Pike's Peak, and then the glory of the perennial 
blue of the Colorado sky like a canopy over all. 

This western view, through the "Gateway," I like to take last, entering froni 
the boulevard near Manitou. Then you have the fitting climax. Freaks of nature 
you may see throughout, which fancy would fain dwell on, even without the run- 
ning comment from your driver, pointing out "the baggage room," "the wine cellar, " 
"Siamese Twins," "the washerwoman," and so on. If you can silence all this crude 
talk of caricature, or take the two miles on foot, "letting nature have her way," I 
think it is best. The remarkable "Balanced Rock" tells its own story, once responsive 
to a child's touch, like the famous "Rocking-Stone" of Devonshire, now cemented 
at the base to prevent wear and tear. You soon come in view of a curious hole 
through which the sky is seen, at the top of the splendid cliff forming the northern 
abutment of the "Gateway." It is said to be six feet across. They call the sculptured 
shapes about this opening "the kissing camels," which does pretty well. And just 
before this point are two striking rocks, wonderfully like a seal and a bear forever 
gazing at each other. 

But now come the beetling rocks at the "Gateway," three hundred feet and 
more in height, almost theatrical in the way they stand on edge — huge blocks of deep 
red against the landscape. Here are the landmarks indeed of some great convulsion 
of nature, whether sudden or gradual, whereby strata of sandstone and limestone, once 
resting peacefully on the primitive granite of the mountains, slid off through the uphea- 
val of the range, and remained fast at right angles with their original positions. For 
a long distance along the base of the foot-hills this phenomenon occurs less strikingly, 
and from the neighboring Mesa one sees the parallel lines of vertical strata for 
several miles. The curious mind may speculate why, just here, the rocks could 
better withstand the destructive forces of water and frost, which have served through 
the long ages to carve them so curiously. But, be this as it may, the senses receive, 
from this Titanic Pleasure-Ground, impressions of the weird, the startling and 
the grand, that give new thoughts to the manifold creative Power, working wondrous- 
ly through nature. Rev. b. Brewster, B. D., 

Colorado Springs, Colo. 




OLD FAITHFUL GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE PARK, WYOMING 

By courtesy of F. J. Haynes, St. Paul, Minn. 






Yellowstone Park might rightly be called, the greatest park in the world. It 
was set apart by an Act of Congress as a public park or pleasure ground ; has an 
area of 3.575 square miles, with an altitude of from 6,000 to 12,000 feet, that of 
Yellowstone Lake being 7,788 feet. This huge park lies mainly in Wyoming, but 
includes also a small part of the territory of Montana. The wonderful geysers 
and thermal springs of this region outnumber those of all the rest of the world put 
together. The former, estimated at about 50, whose waters spout up to from 50 to 
200 feet ; while of the hot springs, impregnated chiefly with lime and with silica 
there are many thousands. This park is one of the great wonders of the New World. 
Its varied features of interest appeal to every visitor. Admirers of Isak Walton 
find their angling proclivities well tested but abundantly rewarded at Jackson Lake. 
The lovers of rugged mountain scenery will exclaim with admiration at the view 
of the Canon of the Yellowstone from Inspiration Point. The artist will find his 
pencil inspired with the glorious view of The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, 
seen from Artist's Point ; or with Yellowstone Lake, with Mount Sheridan in the 
distance. The naturalist finds a great field for his sympathy and interest. Buffalo, 
deer and bears roam unmolested daring extinction, thanks to the paternalism of our 
kind government. The only herd of wild bisons left in the United States is found 
on this reservation; and in some parts moose are occasionally seen. 

The visitor to this romantic region carries away with him a constant memory 
of "Old Faithful" casting heavenward the beautiful spray ; a wonderful witness of 
the great power in nature, whose works are for the blessing of mankind. 

The Very Rev. De.\n Cope, 

Laramie, Wyo. 




MAMMOTH CAVE, KENTUCKY 



In Edmonson County. Kentucky, the forces of Nature have worn out many 
caverns, the most wonderful of which is known as the Mammoth Ca\ e. The geolo- 
gist and man of science finds in this interesting part of our country much that he 
delights to explain, and still more that as yet remains among the secrets cherished 
by Dame Nature. 

The erosive power of water on the soluble limestone is nowhere more greatly 
shown than in the bewildering labyrinths of Mammoth Cave, already explored to a 
distance of ten miles. The estimated length of all the chambers and passages is 
not less than one hundred and fifty miles. Visitors to the cave are furnished with 
guides and lamps, and enter by a sort of irregular funnel with very steep walls. 
The air within, remains summer and winter, at a uniform temperature, about 54 
degrees. The air is pure and exhilarating, enabling one to walk about in it for 
hours without fatigue. How the air is purified so perfectly remains one of the 
unsolved problems. It was found very beneficial to consumptives, but fatal results 
followed a return to the outer air, which seemed foul and poisonous by contrast. 
It has been suggested that this dry pure air. might be utilized for the benefit of 
invalids, if pumped up into apartments exposed to the sunshine. Among the noted 
chambers are the Chief City, Gorin's Dome, Mammoth Dome, Star Chamber. The 
latter has a flat ceiling coated with the black oxid of manganese. This is pierced 
with sparkling crystals of gypsum. By skillful manipulation of the lights, innumer- 
able stars appear as upon black midnight skies, clouds sweep by, and the spirit of 
the beholder is awed by the thrilling illusion. The height of the Chief City is over 
100 feet, and its area is about 500 feet by 280 feet. No description or illustration 
can give an adequate idea of this and other portions of the great cave. The imder- 
ground waters, of classic name, Ri\er Styx, Lake Lethe, and Echo River invite 
still further research. A memorable experience is to sit silently in a boat on Echo 
River while the guide strikes the surface of the water with the flat side of his 
paddle. Instantly roll about you the thunders of the under-world, echoing and re- 
echoing as the sounds are reflected back and forth, finally dying away in most musical 
melodies. It is said the echo is unlike any heard above ground. The vast heights 
and depths, the unknown extent, the beautiful crystal formations in deep shadow 
and weird light, the profound silence, broken by unearthly reduplicated sounds, all 
these thrill and interest the traveler, and inspire him with the desire to know more 
and more of the wondrous works of God. 

A. J. H. Todd. 

Lima. Ind. 




GIANT TREE, MARIPOISA GROVE, CALIFORNIA 

By courtesy of Detroit, Photographic Co., Detroit, Mich. 



fo^cmite t^allcp 

Opposite San Francisco lies tlie famous Yosemite National Park, thirty-six miles 
in length and forty-eight miles wide. In the heart of this famous park, lies the 
even more famous Yosemite Valley, and to have seen it, is to have taken a post 
graduate course in the study of the beautiful. It is a small and distinct valley in 
the lap of the Sierras seven miles in length and three-quarters of a mile wide. 

According to some, this wonderful piece of Nature's chiseling is the most 
marvelous gorge in the world. But tastes differ, and we admit that Yosemite is 
not the largest chasm. However, quantity, instead of quality, is a poor standard of 
greatness, and if sublimity of wall and wealth of waterfall, grandeur of pinnacle, rich- 
ness of foliage and clearness of lake, beauty of the things under foot and of that 
bending to the touch from above, be any gauge, then surely all must admit the 
greatness of this scene. The valley includes the headwaters of the Toulumne and 
Merced Rivers, two of the most songful streams in the world, and is enclosed on every 
side by walls of dazzling granite, that rise in sheer abruptness to the blue sky above, 
against a background of snow-capped mountains, thirteen thousand feet high. 

These great walls are silent, save for the rushing water, which together with 
the whispering in the trees and the sighing of the wind, makes continual music in 
the valley. In the spring it comes leaping down in a half hundred places, then such 
delicate falls, as the Widow's Tears (which dry up so early) are most charming. 
The Bridal Veil Fall is perhaps the most beautiful. It leaps over a precipice nine 
hundred feet high, in a magnificent column. Sometimes the wind seizes it and 
lifts it almost clear of its course, swaying it from side to side. In the center 
of the valley, opposite the hotel, is the great Yosemite Fall, which in a series of 
three leaps descends twenty-six hundred feet. Farther up the valley is the Vernal 
Fall, where the Merced River, eighty feet wide, drops into the chasm below, looking 
in the sunlight, like a cataract of diamonds. 

But no feature of the valley is more impressive than the great walls them- 
selves, broken into grand domes and pinnacles. Probably chief among these are 
Half Dome and El Capitan. Fancy a nicely proportioned monument, fifteen feel 
high, hewn from one stone. Magnify it to a height of five thousand feet, retaining 
its simplicity, and you have before you the great burnished Half Dome. Or let 
the eye wander up the three-quarters of a mile height of El Capitan, that great rock 
with a facial area of five hundred acres on its two exposed sides. 

But the most tranquil picture is found on the floor of the valley in Mirror Lake. 
With wonderful clearness and softness of outline the surroundings are reproduced 
on its surface, seeming lovelier in the reflection. 

Beyond the lake the floor of the valley is covered with a rich carpet of verdure, 
where one may wade ankle deep, through fields of azalea, honeysuckle, lupines and 
geraniums. Here and there are groves of cedar and pine, against whose dark green 
the white topped tents add a home-like air to the scene. 

The weather in the valley is mostly simshine, enriched with beautiful shower.-., 
making all the world shine. Scarcely a day of summer is dark, though there is no 
lack of thunder storms. They rise in the warm mid-day hours, mightily augmenting 



the grandeur of the scene and gathering the fragrance of the valley. The mag- 
nificent climate inspires everyone to be up and doing, the short dashes of rain, form- 
ing not interruptions, but rests. 

But no description of the valley and its surroundings would be complete with- 
out a word about its wonderful trees. "There are three big tree groves, the Mariposa, 
the Toulumne and the Merced, but that of Mariposa County, probably, is the best 
known because of its proximity to the world famed Park. The magnificent group 
of three hundred and sixty-five jnonster sequoias towering high in air, serves 
as a fitting introduction for the sightseer on his way to the enchanting precincts of 
Yosemite. It is in this group that the Washington tree stands, so named for the 
first president of the Union, its girth being ninety-one feet and its height about 
three hundred feet, while not far distant is the General Grant. The Andy Johnson 
is a fallen giant, so called, it is said, because it leaned towards the south while 
standing, and fell to the south, when the final crash came. Not far from the Wash- 
ington tree is the William McKinley. According to John Muir, the noted naturalist, 
it, with others of its kind, is practically immortal, the trees of this class being exempt 
from the diseases that afHict other trees, there being no case known wherein 
one has died a natural death. Their only enemies are man and the elements — storm, 
lightning and fire." They are relics of a past age, and are found no where else in 

llie world. 

Grace Aubrey Dun'lop, 

Denver, Colo. 







When a traveler realize^ that, after years of anticipation, he is about to see 
the Great Niagara Falls, he approaches the long dreamed of spot with awe, and 
is prepared for some gigatitic effect, some overwhelming display of power, some 
terrifying scene : but his expectations and preconceived ideas of what ought to 
be, have to be corrected before what is. before the magnificent "I Am" of Nature. 

As he stands upon the parapet looking down upon the falls, and as he observes 
the water gliding smoothly over the edge, the mist rising gracefully from the 
abyss, the surface of the Great Basin reflecting unconcernedly the calmness of the 
heavens, and the ease with which the roar of the falls is subdued and diffused through 
the air, he is not appalled by the scene. However, if, after the first glance around, 
he reflect upon the long years through which that glistening water has been pouring 
over the brink ; if he recollect with what inevitable certainty that smooth bend of 
water has worn back the ledge of rock, inch by inch, from the distant lake and 
formed the Great Gorge, now twelve miles in length, at the rate of only a few inches 
in a century; if he remetnber that, further up the river, sufficient water has been 
diverted to run the enormous dynamos, which supply the power for the electric street- 
car system of Buffalo, twenty-six miles away, and for use in other cities at a 
great distance, without leaving any perceptible impression upon the flow over the 
falls; if he watch some piece of debris drifting down stream above the falls, and 
see it caught in the terrific current and rushed over the brim in an instant, he will 
find himself drawn by an irresistible attraction and growing admiration. Let him, 
after a time, descend by the Inclined Railroad to the foot of the American Falls, 
and approach as near as safety will permit. Then, as he looks up at that gigantic 
column of water, one hundred and sixty-four feet high, incessantly falling, and 
his ears ring with the mighty thunder of the pounding water, it seems as though 
some great giant were trying to submerge a wee pigmy by pouring a huge stream 
of water out of a bottomless glass. 

These American Falls are the highest, and are separated into a narrow channel 
by Goat's Island — a little wooded island in the river, situated on the very edge of 
the precipice. Beyond this island, circling round to the right in an enormous Horse- 
Shoe Curve, are the Canadian Falls, one hundred and fifty feet high. The entire 
brink of both these falls is four thousand, seven hundred and fifty feet in extent. 

The Canadian Falls surpass the American in volume of water and .extent 
of surface, but they are frequently concealed by the mist which rises in clouds from 
the rocks below. It is while watching the water pour over the edge, from the 
Canadian side, that the observer may see what is the exquisite beauty of these falls 
— the coloring of the water as it turns over the brink. This color is ever vary- 
ing, with a rapidity like the swiftness of the water: it flashes up, a light green; it 
glows in a dark, angry hue; it shines with the brilliancy of an emerald; it fades into 
the dullness of an onyx ; it sparkles anew with the rainbow tints, until the fascination 




NIAGARA FALLS FROM THE AMERICAN SIDE 
By courtesy of The Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co., Denver, Colorado 



is perfected in a shower of spray and foam where the broken ring of the Horse- 
Shoe throws the waters into a jimible. 

At the base of the precipice over which the river falls, is the Great Basin, 
where the Maid of the Mist plies her trade. She is the small steamer which takes 
travelers, all wrapped up in oil skins, for a ride about the foot of the falls 
and so far into the mist as she dare venture. In this Basin, during the months 
of February and March there often forms what is called the Great Ice 
Bridge. It is an ice jam made by logs and cakes of ice. which have floated down 
the river, and been tumbled over the falls into the Basin and there frozen together 
into a solid mass, often ten feet in depth, and solid enough to support traffic across 
the river. Over its surface, during the few weeks of its existence, are dotted all 
sorts of little huts, occupied by photographers and curiosity venders. 

Should the traveler be fortunate enough to visit Niagara at this season, he 
will see an extravagant display of Nature's winter jewelry. The mist, rising from 
the Basin, is blown over the trees and surrounding scenery, and freezes the instant 
it touches anything, so that every twig, every weed, every rock and ledge of house 
or railing, is wrapped in a vesture of transparent ice. When the sun shines upon 
this frozen scene, the transformation is startling: It is as if the bare old trees and 
scanty weeds, all the hard rocks and iron railings, and even the bleak houses, had 
sprung into the dazzling brilliancy of fairy-land in winter time. 

Out of the circular Basin, the river rushes down a deep, narrow gorge, to 
Lake Ontario. In one part of the gorge, the banks have been worn out into a basin, 
in which the dangerous Whirlpool lies, where the current eddies round and round 
in an everlasting circle. In the narrowed channel of the river, the water boils and 
surges into the Rapids, beautiful in their hoary crests and terrible in their thunder- 
ing billows. 

The varying aspect of the Falls is best seen by the trip down the Gorge 
on the trolley-car, which descendson the American side, crosses the river, and returns 
on the high banks of the Canadian side. Such a round, completed at leisure, will 
leave a lasting impression of the magnitude, and wonderful beauty, of this simple 
but sublime work of Nature. 

Rev. Robert Lloyd Windsor. 

Los Angeles. Calif. 




€l)c 4E>ranD Caupon 

This Canyon is rightly named the "Titan of Canyons," and until seen, one 
has no conception of its gigantic proportions, and the sublimity of the scene beggars 
description. A vast gorge 217 miles in length, like a dark slash up the mountain 
side, with vast clefts of rock towering into the blue sky beyond. Consider a rock 
two hundred thousand square miles in extent, and a mile in thickness, against which 
the clouds have hurled their storms, and beat it into sands, and the rills have carried 
the sands into the creeks, and the creeks into the grand Colorado, and then into 
the mighty surging ocean beyond. This Canyon is no mere cleft. It is a terrific trough 
six to seven thousand feet deep, ten to twenty miles wide, and hundreds of miles 
long, peopled with hundreds of peaks taller than any mountain east of the Rockies, 
and yet not one of these as high as your feet; this all ablaze with such a glorious 
glow, that you are fascinated with the grandeur and magnificence of the scene, and 
the utter opulence of color. These are not simple grays or browns. The whole 
gorge flames. It is as though rainbows had fallen out of the sky and hung them- 
selves in glorious banners. Truly, God's open book of nature ; and the river beneath, 
the silver bookmark. The under color is the clearest yellow, flushing into the deepest 
orange and crimson. Down at the base, the deepest mosses unroll their draperies, 
of the most vivid green ; and browns sweet and soft do their blending. Turrets of 
rocks shoot up as crimson as though drenched in blood. It is a wilderness of wildness 
and color, too grand to picture. All through the hours of that memorable after- 
noon, until the sunset shadows came, and afterwards amid the moonbeams, I waited 
in breathless silence, clinging to the rocks, jutting out into that awful, overpower- 
ing abyss, afraid and filled with awe, yet compelled to cling there. Nothing could 
be more awful than that — the yawning chasm and the stillness as solemn as midnight, 
and as profound as death. The water dashing against the rocks as if in agony ; 
the mighty distance, lays the finger of silence on its white lips, and you are oppressed 
with an overpowering sense of helplessness, as though the vastness would soon force 
you from the rocks to which you cling, into the sheer and awful depth below. I 
have seen the ragged castles of the beautiful Rhine ; here, these castles are repro- 
duced. I have seen the waving summits of the great Cathedral spires, in the country 
beyond the seas ; here, these stand in their magnificence, only loftier and far more 
sublime, for they are God's handwork of Nature. As the sunset shadows fall, the 
great peaks and ragged clefts fade away, and new ones as terrific in their grandeur, 
are thrown upon the scene, with their purple shadows and dazzling lights. Truly, 
nature is one vast, grand panorama, and as we gaze spellbound upon the magnificent 
scene, we are led to exclaim: "How wonderful are Thy works, Oh Lord of Hosts!" 

Annie Christie Smith, 

Canandaigua, N. Y. 



!^SSS3S^ 



ii 



m 



p^^ 



